Senate Bill No. 663
(By Senators Hunter and Weeks)
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[Introduced March 21, 2005; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §3-9-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the Secretary of State
appointing trained volunteer observers of differing party and
nonparty political affiliations to observe in the various
county courthouse election activities beginning on election
day and until all votes are counted and unofficial returns are
posted.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-9-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. OFFENSES AND PENALTIES.
§3-9-6. Unauthorized presence in election room; three-hundred-foot
limit; penalties
;
volunteer observers in county
courthouses.
If any person, not herein authorized so to do, enters or
attempts to enter the election room, except upon a lawful errand
and for a proper purpose, or remains within three hundred feet of the outside entrance to the building housing the polling place,
contrary to the provisions of this chapter, he
or she shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined
not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or
confined in
the county jail for not more than thirty days.
Excepting those individuals provided for expressly in this or
other sections of the code, only full-time employees of the
Secretary of State's office or full-time employees of the
respective county offices of the county clerk or the county
prosecutor may enter or otherwise disturb the polling place:
Provided, That the Secretary of State may appoint clearly
identifiable teams of at least two, but no more than three
volunteer election observers, each of differing party and nonparty
political affiliations, who are eligible to vote in West Virginia,
and who have completed required training presented by the Secretary
of State's office, to observe with full access, all election
activities at the county or municipal central counting centers
beginning on election day until all votes are counted and
unofficial returns are posted. The Secretary of State's office
shall pay volunteers for documented travel and one night lodging
expenses when necessary: Provided, however, That no volunteer
observers may serve in their own or an adjacent county. Nothing in
this section may be construed to permit domestic or international
observers, in the polling place.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide the Secretary of
State the authority to place teams of three trained observers, each
of differing party and nonparty political affiliations, in the
county central counting centers beginning on election day.
Strike-throughs indicate language which would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language which
would be added.
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